Apple iPhone X, iPhone 8: Everything you need to know

By:
Kyle Nazario, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Updated: Sep 13, 2017 - 5:28 AM

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Apple iPhone X, iPhone 8: Everything you need to know

CUPERTINO, Calif. - It’s September, and new iPhones are in the air. Apple invited the press to the Steve Jobs Theater on its new Cupertino, California, Apple Park campus Tuesday to show off the new products after a brief memorial to the theater’s namesake.

iPhone X: A new, expensive iPhone

Apple finally unveiled the iPhone X, pronounced “iPhone Ten.”

“It is all screen,” Apple Vice President Phil Schiller said. “It is incredible to hold.”

The phone comes in space gray and silver. It is engineered to be water- and dust-resistant.

The screen is called Super Retina. It measures 5.8 inches diagonally with a 458 ppi pixel density, the highest ever in an iPhone. The Super OLED screen stretches edge to edge with minimal bezel on the front. It supports HDR vision and True Tone, which matches your screen coloring to your surroundings.

The iPhone X wakes up when you pick it up or tap the screen, even when it’s turned off. To unlock the phone, users swipe up from the bottom. This gesture also acts as a virtual home button. If you swipe up from the bottom and pause without swiping all the way, it opens multitasking.

﻿Face ID

For security, the iPhone X will use Face ID. The iPhone will recognize you using a bevy of sensors built into the front of the phone. Schiller claimed the system will work even in the dark.

The new phones will have better cameras. Again, the 4.7-inch iPhone 8 will have one camera and the 5.5-inch 8 Plus will have two. Having two rear cameras allows the 8 Plus to have photography features such as portrait lighting, which adds portrait-style light and shadow to photos. The features will ship in beta this fall.

The iPhone 8 starts at $699 for 64 GB of storage. iPhone 8 Plus starts at $799. Preorders begin Friday. Phones will be released Sept. 22.

New Apple Watch with LTE data

Apple Watch Series 3 was announced; it has Long Term Evolution, or LTE, built in. The watch, by having its own data connection, allows users to get texts and stream Apple Music without an external data connection. There is no word on how much this feature will affect battery life.

The new watch model includes a faster processor that supports conversations with Siri. There will be an altimeter -- most useful for skiing and snowboarding -- and a W2 chip for AirPods.

Despite all this, Apple claims the Series 3 is just “two sheets of paper” thicker than previous models.

Apple also showed off watchOS 4, the newest operating system for its wearable. WatchOS 4 adds more health-focused features, such as notifying you when your heart rate becomes irregular but you don’t appear to be working out.

The new Apple Watch is $399 with cellular service and $329 without. Orders begin on Friday, and watches are available on Sept. 22.

Apple TV 4K

Apple pushed a refreshed version of its set-top box, Apple TV. This version will support 4K resolution for videos.

It will support high dynamic range videos, or HDR. HDR videos show more detail across different lighting amounts within one shot.

The TV app, available on iOS and Apple TV, will support live news and sports.

The new Apple TV is $179, or $199 for more storage. Preorders start Friday, and it launches on Sept. 22.

iOS 11 details and release date

The iOS 11 will include something called animojis. These are emojis whose faces move to match your expressions. These can be sent to people over iMessage.

The iOS 11 will release on Sept. 19.

How to watch the speech

On its website, Apple has a recap of the event, introducing the new products, which was the first from Steve Jobs Theater.